Award
of Excellence The City of Huntsville and Browning-Ferris Industries
Citywide Recycling Program

In the 1980s, the City of
Huntsville was faced with a growing solid waste disposal problem. The need
to reduce the consumption of its existing landfill, coupled with
environmental concerns, prompted the City to form the Solid Waste Disposal
Authority (SWDA), a non-profit, public corporation vested with the
responsibilities of constructing, financing and managing the
community's waste disposal facilities.

As part of an overall
integrated waste management system, SWDA contracted with Browning-Ferris
Industries (BFI) in May 1990 to begin a citywide recycling program. As
part of this program, households were issued containers for collecting
newspapers, aluminum and steel cans, #1 and #2 plastic bottles, and
household batteries; two years later, glossy magazines and used motor oil
were added to the list of recyclable items. Working regular routes, BFI
employees sorted the materials in the containers left curbside by
residents and deposited those materials in their collection trucks. In the
past year, 65 percent of all households in Huntsville participated in the
recycling program, putting a total of 5,028 tons of recyclable materials
and approximately 10,841 gallons of oil at their curbs for
collection.

In 1996, in cooperation
with SWDA and other City of Huntsville agencies, BFI designed, constructed
and began operating a new automated recycling facility, The Recyclery.
Located on A Cleaner Way, a street in one of Huntsville's newest industrial complexes, The Recyclery was a
first-of-its-kind facility for BFI, enabling the company to process
recyclable materials with automated equipment and state-of-the-art
technology. Sorting materials with conveyors, shakers and separators, in a
facility operated by skilled workers, became a boon to businesses and
cities across North Alabama: The new facility was holding down the costs
associated with recycling.

Public education is part of
the BFI program. Each year, in conjunction with the Huntsville school
system's Earth Scope program, The Recyclery leads
more than 2,000 students through tours of the facility, and the BFI
recycling coordinator also visits local schools on request. Another 5,000
people of all ages are given free tours of The Recyclery each year.

In summary, the partnership
between SWDA and BFI has resulted in:

a significant reduction
in the waste stream, extending the landfill's life for years to come and saving the City millions of
dollars in disposal costs;

BFI is proud of its
participation in many civic and charitable programs in the communities in
which it works. In Huntsville, this support of the community ranges from
sponsoring a Boy Scout Explorer Post and establishing a recycling club at
GIRL's, Inc., to implementing a
citywide neighborhood watch program in which drivers watch for and report
suspicious activities on their collection routes.